Shankar Samrat (left) shows one of his skills. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, July 6: Residents of the city can look forward for some innovative performances by magician Shankar Samrat.

It has been a long time since the people have enjoyed the art of magic. Samrat is in town to regale the audience for two months at the Milanee. The formal inauguration of the magic show took place on Friday. Local MP Suman Mahto was the chief guest on the occasion.

Samrat, 23, is an international performer and performed in Muscat, Hong Kong and several other cities across the world. He said: “Magic is such an art which is involved in almost all the activities of life but goes unnoticed. I want to save the declining art of magic and want the people to stop practising and believing in black magic.”

Samrat, with his 60-odd members, came up with a variety of new items. The performances included an item based on a dramatised theme, where a corpse is brought to life. Another item, “Three ghosts from Japan”, received great public appreciation.

“I am surprised how a girl crossed the ceiling fan,” said a surprised Shruti Sinha, nine, who was virtually mesmerised by the popular magic item.

According to Pankaj Raj, the organiser and the elder brother of Samrat: “We are honoured to perform on the same platform where great magicians, such as O.P. Sharma and P.C. Sorcar performed and we expect their blessings on us and on the show.”

Samrat said Ranchi would be his next destination. Samrat wants to establish a magic academy — after Jaipur and Maharashtra — in Jharkhand to make the art more popular among the new generation.